The friends of Mr. Pakington having failed to injure Mr.
Calthorpe, by the false statement that he is the Nominee of
Lord Ward, have resorted to another falsehood which has led to
the following correspondence.
"EAST WORCESTERSHIRE ELECTION."
"_Teddesley, February 13th, 1859._
"MY DEAR INGESTRE--
"I take the liberty, to which I am sure you will not
object, to publish my letter to you, and your answer.
"I remain yours sincerely, "HATHERTON.
"The Viscount Ingestre, M.P., &c."
* * * * *
"_Teddesley, February 11th, 1859._
"MY DEAR INGESTRE--
"My attention has been called to a paragraph in the _Daily
News_ to the following effect:--
"'Lord Ingestre, and Mr. Lygon, and Mr. Dowdeswell,
formerly M.P. for Tewkesbury, addressed an assembly
of farmers from a window opposite the Corn Exchange,
Worcester, on Saturday afternoon. In the course of Lord
Ingestre's observations, he said the idea of bringing
forward Mr. Calthorpe as a representative for the Eastern
Division of Worcestershire was hatched by Lord Hatherton,
at his seat at Teddesley, and then communicated to Lord
Ward, who gave a ready acquiescence to the suggestion.'"
"What purely accidental conversation I may have had with
Lord Ward about East Worcestershire Election, at a visit he
paid here--just after Lord Northwick's death--in pursuance
of an engagement made a fortnight before, it is unnecessary
for me to relate. But the statement that 'the idea of
bringing forward Mr. Calthorpe as a representative of
East Worcestershire was hatched by me at this place,' or
anywhere else, is without a shadow of foundation.
I never was consulted or likely to be about the choice
of a candidate: and except one letter from a customary
correspondent conveying to me the information that Mr.
Calthorpe's friends had resolved to bring him forward, of
which I then heard for the first time, I never had with any
one any kind of communication respecting his election.
"I am sure that after this statement, you will pardon my
enquiry whether you have been correctly reported in the
above paragraph--and if so--on what authority you have made
such a statement?
"I remain yours sincerely,
"HATHERTON.
"The Viscount Ingestre, M.P."
* * * * *
"_Ingestre, Stafford, February 12th, 1859._
"DEAR LORD HATHERTON,
"The report of what I said at Worcester is substantially
correct with this exception:--
"What I said was 'the scheme was hatched _at_ Lord
Hatherton's, at Teddesley,' &c. Not _by_ Lord Hatherton.
You ask me on what ground I made that statement.
"I reply, I knew Lord Ward had been at Teddesley, I
believed that Mr. Calthorpe met him there, and knowing the
interest you take in political matters as evinced during
the last Stafford election, I thought it probable that the
idea of starting Mr. Calthorpe for East Worcestershire was
hatched at your house. If I have made any mis-statement
in this matter, I much regret it, but I believe the
probabilities were sufficient to bear me out in the
assertion that I made at Worcester.
"Believe me, dear Lord Hatherton, sincerely yours,
"INGESTRE."
The reply of Lord Ingestre reduced to plain language, says a
writer in the _Daily Post_, amounts to this, "I knew that Lord
Ward had been at Teddesley, therefore I imagined the rest, and
what were suspicions only I affirmed as facts."
Notwithstanding Mr. Calthorpe's repeated denial of his ever
having expressed a wish that Theatres, the Crystal Palace, and
such like places of amusement should be opened on Sundays, Mr.
Pakington's friends have repeated the calumny,--Mr. Calthorpe's
Central Committee beg to inform the Electors of the Public
Meeting held at Stourbridge, on Monday last, that Mr. Calthorpe
not only contradicted this false and calumnious statement, but
emphatically declared that he is OPPOSED to the opening of
Places of Amusement of any kind on Sundays.
_Central Committee Rooms, Stourbridge, February 15th, 1859._
* * * * *